THE NEW YORKEß r ?; ;!:! ''';::x= > ,,:$t .;;$ .;";i . fcäat< ^ r: :t 1t:i Ø<1! .....,..,:.=: , i ?!f ". ,, 1: 1 \ :,';.': ;..:: ).:;.. ..x' ";':":./:"-:-..:" .v ../ X -::..... ):.; ......... : -..;>>".,;.::-:.:=":"-:O':::- M.:..:........:...."...:'.....'.'. , *:.: .. , ,) . W ":, ,' >;. ',' .,<< ,:", ^, /\.:" -.:::: . . _ .: X ?* r;;,t Wt ,'= .,,}l.... ' ;:i', J ;, ' 'f(; i,\' '" . Ii ,.".f '.' !f.. .. . H'.... ,Jr.".,., ".' ... F :: :...:. .. . .." ('." ......... .:.;.:. . ir:/}S':': l : <: ,.. ........, . . t::, :;:":' '<<. C.. :::. J* ....::: ;.h. :: " =tJ; \\l':':\) :?u '.( ': :.' a .....::: 21 .. :... f' :::.n :i=.'.:S$ :li.:. ::'-:-;:":'> ;:- .r::f* t. -, JV ):\ '. .. ::......:.: ;. (Ø, "Þ:::}::: )j :: :: ;t ;?>,::\:=:''i;:,.: ., i:w't;:"... :.:f : :.:.. . ..:"-':::' J!b . /i'dd : 2',""'é'- ":,:,..... . !;:t :,..'} ..:'.<- : ':," ::::. .' ::::{t,' :'::;.:/ ii ?::1,::':.,;.:,- , /."'{;ftt ' ," , . ' , . . : . : . . . . i1 , v - :. c . , : , . " . : . . . : . , . : . . . ' . ; . i . . . , : . . :' : ' . , ::.w: : ' . ' , .:' : :: . . . : . . , ; : :. . ,: , ' . .::. . : . ::.. . . '. ' :.::> ; ,.... {: &i;}":'" >:.' >"' ' .. ./1,"....,-'::. . ". . . -,.. %;: * ' ;j ,'P ;{&s... .);t7:, i J '" .-..... :....:--- "But look on the bright side, Hermann. Now if we get a furlough we won't be so far from home." of Japan has some form of poor eye- sight, usually myopia. When we were in school, we were taught that the rea- son was that little J ap babies were car- ried about on their mothers' backs and squinted into the sun during their form- ative years; the latest theory is that it's a deficiency in Vitamins A, C, and D, all of which are lacking in the nor- mal Japanese diet. Who knows? Who cares? At any rate, the optical industry in Japan has for some years been very big. The opticians' shops in T okio are the most elaborate in the world, and the cost of glasses about one-third what it is in this country. At Osaka, the centre of the industry, there is a special shrine where a gankyo sai (optical festival) is held every year. No ethical] ap optome- trist or optician would dream of missing a gankyo sai. D ntil 1920 or thereabouts, the D nited States and Germany supplied Japan with almost all her óptical goods. Then the local industry expanded and within eight years Japan was sending us lenses, rims, and other optical equip- ment. Japanese lenses are not made of glass but are ground from a clear white quartz which is mined extensively on . . the islands, and they're inferior to the American product but considerably cheaper. By 1936, Japan was shipping us four million lenses a year. In that year, Congress passed a law requiring imported goods to be stamped with the place of manufacture, whereupon at least one Japanese manufacturing city adopted the alias (CD sa" and kept right on doing business as usual. The Federal Trade Commission was never amused by the Usa gag and is still prosecuting importers who before the war distrib- uted goods bearing that stamp or label. Up to 1941, Germany was also embar- rassed by big imports of Japanese spec- tacles. In Japan, men, women, and children wear the heavy, black, imitation -tor- toise-shell rims that were popular over here in the mid-twenties. There are several reasons for the popularity of thIs style. For one thing, metal has always been scarce in Japan and substitutes are used wherever possible. There is also the anthropological consideration that the J ap nose is too flat for pince-nez to get a good grip. Also, the] aps are traditional admirers of several questionable aspects of .L.1\merican culture-big-Ieague base- ball, hard straw hats, and the like-and, since they began to manufacture their own spectacles at about the time the horn rims were epidemic over here, they have more or less become frozen at that stage of our aesthetic development. A great many Japs who have nothing wrong with their eyes wear spectacles anyway, just to be in the swim. Ninety- five per cent of the geisha girls do; they consider it fetching as do their admirers. Chess Problem A SOLDIER we know tells us that he saw two of his comrades-in- arms engrossed in a chess game at a U.S.O. canteen. The position was a highly complicated one, and our friend stopped to watch. For several minutes neither player spoke or made a play, then one of them roused hImself and inquired, "Say, which am I-black or white? " Pleasa1zt Sou1zd W E are prepared to explain the prin- ciples of a new musical departure called "color harmony," having had a